Malawi’s Under-17 coach undergoes operation

Malawi’s Under-17 national soccer team coach John Kaputa says he is now feeling better having undergone an operation on his injured ankle at the weekend.

Speaking from his hospital bed at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, on Monday, Kaputa said: “The operation was successful and there is slight improvement. I am supposed to have a final check up this morning.”

He described the incident that led to his injury as “very sudden”.

“I was hit by a player who was running backwards. He did not see me and neither did I. So, I fell down and twisted my ankle,” he said.

However, Kaputa could also not be drawn to comment on his team’s exit from the continental showpiece on penalty shoot-out.

“It is sad that we are out of the tournament, but I cannot comment. Let me concentrate on my healing. The best people to comment would be those that travelled with the team,” he said.

Kaputa got injured during the team’s training last week as they prepared for the Under-17 CAF Youth Championship preliminary round, second leg against Botswana’s Young Zebras. He failed to make the trip to Gaborone due to the injury.

The Junior Flames were booted out of the tournament 4-2, on penalties. The match went into a penalty shootout after the two teams tied 3-3 on aggregate.

Malawi won the first leg 2-1 in Lilongwe, but Botswana won the return leg in Gaborone by the same margin.